Knowledge Update

​London, Oct 23 (IANS) There is no link between how hungry we feel and the amount of calories we consume, reveals a study.

It suggests that food marketed as having appetite-modifying properties does not alter our calorie intake. 

The findings, published in the journal Food and Science Nutrition, highlighted the health claims made by the food industry and the way in which many products are advertised -- especially those aimed at people trying to lose weight.

"The food industry is littered with products which are marketed on the basis of their appetite-modifying properties. Whilst these claims may be true, they shouldn't be extended to imply that energy intake will be reduced as a result," said Bernard Corfe, Researcher at the University of Sheffield. 

Researchers analysed 462 scientific studies and arrived at the conclusion that appetite ratings failed to correspond with energy intake -- the number of calories consumed -- in the majority of studies.

Corfe said, "For example, you could eat a meal which claims to satisfy your appetite and keep you feeling full-up for a long period of time but nonetheless go on to consume a large amount of calories later on." 

The research team suggested that more research is needed to examine other factors governing actual food intake, including sensorial environment, social factors, entrained behaviour relating to food timing, along with our innate physical regulation of intake.

​New York, Oct 22 (IANS) Household dysfunction or any adverse event in childhood may have a short-term affect on a child's health and weight in early days as well, finds a study.

The study suggested that children exposed to early adversity also have increased risk for asthma, infection, somatic complaints, and sleep disruption. 

Maternal mental health issues are associated with elevated cortisol levels, and maltreatment is associated with a lower cortisol profile.

For the study, the researchers examined 39 cohort studies to determine the effect that adverse childhood experiences have on health and biological outcomes in children.

"The majority of research on early adversity has looked at long-term adult outcomes. While this research has helped identify the problem, we must also deepen our understanding of what is happening in the brains and bodies of our children as they experience adversity," said Debby Oh, Researcher at the Center for Youth Wellness, US in a statement.

The researchers suggested that with appropriate intervention, children are able to recover from some of these negative health effects, making early detection a powerful tool to protect the health and well-being of children before long-term adult outcomes occur.

​Ottawa, Oct 22 (IANS) Choosing smaller portions of food does not hamper the enjoyment of eating, finds a study.

"In fact, focusing on the pleasure of eating, rather than value for money, health, or hunger, makes people happier to pay more for less food," said Pierre Chandon, the L'Oréal Chaired Professor of Marketing, Innovation and Creativity at INSEAD Business School for the World, in France.

In their article, published in the Journal of Marketing Research, the researchers said the findings showed that people will choose smaller portions of chocolate cake when they are asked to vividly imagine the multisensory pleasure (taste, smell, texture) of similar desserts.

The researchers showed that unlike health warnings, this multisensory imagery does not reduce expected eating enjoyment or willingness to pay for the food. 

They conducted five different experiments where 42 schoolchildren were asked to imagine -- incorporating their five senses -- the pleasure of eating, familiar desserts and were then asked to choose portions of brownies.

They naturally chose portions of brownies that were two sizes smaller than the portions chosen by children in a control condition.

In another experiment, they imitated high-end restaurants by describing a regular chocolate cake as smelling of roasted coffee with aromas of honey and vanilla with an aftertaste of blackberry. 

This vivid description made 190 participants choose a smaller portion compared to a control condition where the cake was simply described as "chocolate cake". 

The study also had a third condition, in which people were told about the calorie and fat content of each cake portion. This nutrition information also led people to choose a smaller portion. 

However, it reduced the amount that people were willing to pay for the cake compared to the multisensory condition.

A third study showed that people underestimated how much they will enjoy eating small portions of chocolate brownies. They expected to enjoy small portions less than larger ones, when actually both were enjoyed equally. 

This mistake was eliminated by multisensory imagery, which made people better forecasters of their own future eating enjoyment.

"Having more descriptive menus or product labels that encourage customers to use their senses can lead to positive outcomes for consumer satisfaction and health, but also for profits. This could make for a more sustainable food industry, which struggles to grow in the face of today's obesity epidemic," said Yann Cornil, Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

​New York, Oct 22 (IANS) What if clothes and other wearable items can sense your illness and transmit data to a doctor in a distant clinic for monitoring your health and prescribing drugs? This could be possible, thanks to new research by an Indian-origin scientist at University of Rhode Island.

Kunal Mankodiya, Director of the university's Wearable Biosensing Laboratory is researching how to transform gloves, socks, clothing and even shoes into high-tech items that will make people healthier -- and improve their lives.

"We are in the era of game-changing technology, especially in health care," Mankodiya said.

Mankodiya's research focuses on smart textiles -- wearable items embedded with sensors, electronics and software that can collect data from patients, even though they are at home, and deliver it to doctors. 

Mankodiya's team is working on smart gloves that are embedded with sensors on the fingers and thumb that measure tremors and rigidity -- common symptoms of Parkinson's.

The gloves, in turn, are connected to cell phones, which process the data and deliver it to neurologists in their offices. 

This way, doctors can manage the treatment plan of the patient on a day-to-day basis, ensuring that medication is working properly and eliminating the need for patients to make stressful clinical visits.

"Patients with Parkinson's face many mobility issues -- driving and even walking long distances," Mankodiya, an alumnus of Saurashtra University in Rajkot, Gujarat, said. 

"The glove will give patients the option of receiving health care while remaining at home, and it also reduces the risk of falls and other accidents," he added.

Mankodiya is also working on high-tech socks for people who have suffered strokes. Again, sensors and software woven into the fabric relay information about a patient's gait to doctors and physical therapists so they can tailor rehabilitation therapy to each patient.

"The socks examine the walking stride," Mankodiya said in University of Rhode Island statement. 

"They can quantify movements of the knee and ankle joints to find subtle irregularities that require therapy. The socks also monitor a patient's progress," he added.

Other projects of his team focus on developing tools to image, sense and record brain function to treat Parkinson's, as well as other neurological diseases, like epilepsy. 

​Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) Astronomers believe they have found the oldest known planet-forming disk -- a 45-million-year-old ring of gas and dust that orbits around a young star.

Circumstellar disks around red dwarfs like this one are rare to begin with, but this star, called AWI0005x3s, appears to have sustained its disk for an exceptionally long time, according to the study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"Most disks of this kind fade away in less than 30 million years," said lead researcher Steven Silverberg from University of Oklahoma in the US.

"This particular red dwarf is a candidate member of the Carina stellar association, which would make it around 45 million years old (like the rest of the stars in that group). It's the oldest red dwarf system with a disk we've seen in one of these associations," Silverberg noted.

The discovery relied on citizen scientists from Disk Detective, a project led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Marc Kuchner that is designed to find new circumstellar disks. 

"Without the help of the citizen scientists examining these objects and finding the good ones, we might never have spotted this object," Kuchner said. 

"It is surprising to see a circumstellar disk around a star that may be 45 million years old, because we normally expect these disks to dissipate within a few million years," one of the researchers Jonathan Gagne from Carnegie Institution for Science said.

"More observations will be needed to determine whether the star is really as old as we suspect, and if it turns out to be, it will certainly become a benchmark system to understand the lifetime of disks," Gagne noted.

This star and its disk are also interesting because of the possibility that it could host extrasolar planets, the study said.

Sydney, Oct 21 (IANS) Researchers have discovered a new species of long-necked dinosaurs in northeastern Australia that could have arrived from South America 105 million years ago, officials said on Friday.

The Savannasaurus elliottorum were between 12-15 metres long with a long neck, a relatively short tail and hips around 1.5 metres wide, EFE news reported.

The Savannasaurus belong to a branch of the sauropods known as titanosaurs, the largest land animals to have inhabited the Earth, Stephen Poropat, of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History (AAOD), said.

The paleontologist, whose study was published in the journal Scientific Reports, said they could recover only 20-25 per cent of the Savannasaurus, mostly parts belonging to its torso, limbs and the pelvis.

"Because they are very large animals it would take a fair bit of sediment to bury it before predators come along," Poropat said.

He added that teeth of carnivorous dinosaurs were also found at the site, which suggests there might have been scavenging of the remains of the Savannasaurus.

The first fossils of these titanosaurs were found in 2005 by grazier David Elliot, the chairman of AAOD in Winston in Queensland state.

Shortly after the AAOD and the Queensland Museum began excavating the fossil site, but it was nearly a decade till they could remove the bones from the rocks in which they were encrusted.

Besides the Savannasaurus, Poropat also described another dinosaur in his study that was discovered in Australia in 2009, Diamantinasaurus matildae, whose excavation enabled the discovery of the first skull of a sauropod in the country.

The discovery of the Savannasaurus and the Diamantinasaurus have sparked a controversy over the origin of the titanosaurs in Australia.

Earlier studies on megafauna suggested they were similar to dinosaurs from Laurasia, the ancient supercontinental landmass in the Northern Hemisphere.

However, Poropat argued against that theory explaining that Laurasia and Gondwana - which gave rise to the continental masses of the Southern Hemisphere: South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica - were separated.

According to the expert, the discovery shows the Savannasaurus and the Diamantinasaurus arrived from South America 105 million years ago through the Antarctica during an era of warmer temperatures and when the three continents were connected.

​New York, Oct 21 (IANS) Social hierarchy affects our health and uncertainty of staying at top in this hierarchy may increase the risk of chronic diseases, suggests new research.

According to the study, the findings apply to those uncertain at the top of the social hierarchy as also to those uncertain of their status in lower ranking, though the latter may have opportunities for upward mobility and this may be associated with better health. 

"Low social status is generally thought to lead to poorer health, yet so many exceptions undermine this apparent association that it is difficult to draw a direct relationship between status and health," said one of the researchers, Jessica Vandeleest from University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in the US.

Although the experiment was carried out in monkeys, the researchers believe that the findings could one day help doctors learn more about the way that social hierarchy affects the health of humans.

For the study, the researchers measured the level of certainty or uncertainty of social status in captive rhesus monkey groups. 

They did this by observing how the monkeys interacted with each other -- in cases where the monkeys were not interacting directly with other monkeys, their relationships were inferred through mutual social connections. 

The team used these indirect connections to decipher the social rank of the animals and how well they fit in the hierarchy.

The researchers discovered that high ranking monkeys with low certainty of their social status showed higher markers of inflammation, which can be a sign of a chronic disease state such as diabetes, than those with very certain status.

So high-ranking monkeys may experience some health risks, but only when their position is questionable and they are consequently at risk of losing their status.

The opposite pattern was found for low ranking monkeys - high dominance certainty was associated with higher markers of inflammation, whereas low certainty was associated with lower levels of inflammatory proteins. 

The study, published in the journal PeerJ suggests that uncertainty alone may be a risk factor for acute diseases, and that uncertainty in status over longer periods in relationship to rank are related to chronic disease states as well.

New York, Oct 21 (IANS) Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed an inexpensive, simple method that allows them to convert footsteps into usable electricity.

The method puts to good use a common waste material -- wood pulp. 

The pulp, which is already a common component of flooring, is partly made of cellulose nanofibers. 

They are tiny fibers that, when chemically treated, produce an electrical charge when they come in contact with untreated nanofibers.

When the nanofibers are embedded within flooring, they are able to produce electricity that can be harnessed to power lights or charge batteries. 

And because wood pulp is a cheap, abundant and renewable waste product of several industries, flooring that incorporates the new technology could be as affordable as conventional materials.

While there are existing similar materials for harnessing footstep energy, they are costly, nonrecyclable, and impractical at a large scale.

"We've been working a lot on harvesting energy from human activities. One way is to build something to put on people, and another way is to build something that has constant access to people. The ground is the most-used place," said Xudong Wang, Associate Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The team's method published in the journal Nano Energy is the latest in a green energy research field called "roadside energy harvesting" that could, in some settings, rival solar power -- and it does not depend on fair weather. 

Researchers like Wang who study roadside energy harvesting methods see the ground as holding great renewable energy potential well beyond its limited fossil fuel reserves.

​New York, Oct 21 (IANS) An Indian-American researcher and his team have created life-size 3D hand models, complete with all five fingerprints using a high-resolution 3D printer that can produce the same ridges and valleys as a real finger.

Like any optical device, fingerprint and hand scanners need to be calibrated, but currently there is no standard method for doing so.

"This is the first time a whole hand 3D target has been created to calibrate fingerprint scanners," said Distinguished Professor Anil Jain from Michigan State University (MSU). 

"As a byproduct of this research, we realised a fake 3D hand, essentially a spoof, with someone's fingerprints, could potentially allow a crook to steal the person's identity to break into a vault, contaminate a crime scene or enter the country illegally," Jain cautioned.

Jain and his biometrics team were studying how to test and calibrate fingerprint scanners commonly used across the globe at police departments, airport immigration counters, banks and even amusement parks. 

To test the scanners, they created life-size 3D hand models complete with all five fingerprints.

"Another application of this technology will be to evaluate the spoof-resistance of commercial fingerprint scanners. We have highlighted a security loophole and the limitations of existing fingerprint scanning technology, now it's up to the scanner manufacturers to design a scanner that is spoof-resistant," Jain noted in a university statement. 

The study aims to design and develop standard models and procedures for consistent and reliable evaluation of fingerprint readers and is funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

"We are very pleased with this research and how it is showing the uncertainties in the process and what it can mean for the accuracy of the readers," said Nicholas Paulter, Group Leader for the Security Technologies Group at NIST and a co-author of the study. 

The FBI, CIA, military and manufacturers will all be interested in this project, he added.

Along with Jain and Paulter, the study was co-authored by Sunpreet Arora, MSU doctoral student. 

​Clayton Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School, wrote in the Harvard Business Review in 1995 about the concept of 'disruptive innovation'. He described it as "a process that takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established practices".

The term has since then gone beyond just business and the markets and engulfed the whole gamut of the societal and environmental transformation. It is now termed the process that disrupts the well-established practices by game-changing operations that move from bottom to the top of society for sustainable and better living. 

Last week delegates from 197 countries in an international negotiating conference on the Montreal Protocol -- a multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) -- sparked such disruptive innovation at an unlikely place -- Kigali, the Rwandan capital -- and under the auspices of an environmental off-shoot of the UN more known for its glacial speed of responses to the global crises.

The disruptive innovation stems from the fact that the treaty under which the commitment was agreed was not originally sculpted to reduce emissions of green house gases (GHGs). Thus, 'The Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer' was virtually enshrined with a new tag: 'The Montreal Protocol on substances that do not deplete the ozone layer'.

This signals not only a name change but also a game-changing operation for the betterment of the planet. It has heralded disruptive innovation in the well-established UN practice of never-crossing-the-mandate. Never ever before in the history of a MEA and even in the history of the UN has such social and environmental innovation taken place that stemmed from bottom up from countries.

MEAs are global treaties negotiated to address global environmental issues. Scientific postulations, observations, degrees of environmental and economic impacts as well as threat to the habitat are the drivers of such global negotiations. Differing abilities to perceive the environmental crisis and the unequal capability to deal with its impact as well as transformation to alternative policies and technologies are the major stumbling blocks in the negotiations. The suspicion or the real existence of hidden agendas, mistrust and politics complicate the negotiations, which become notoriously and excruciatingly slow. Each agreement is confined to its mandate and countries zealously guard this.

Even worse, a final agreement is arrived at after long serpentine multilateral negotiations and compromises are no assurance for its effective implementation as amply exemplified by the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

The Montreal Protocol radiates exceptional success that stands out as one of the rare examples of what the UN is capable of achieving. Copy-book style negotiations under the Montreal Protocol, closely supported by global scientific assessments by top-notch irrefutable scientists, were strengthened with principles of common but differentiated responsibility, precautionary approach and polluter-to-pay issues.

Convened under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Protocol, signed in 1987 which entered into force in 1989, has succeeded in wiping out nearly two million tons of man-made ozone depleting substances (ODS) that were being produced and consumed annually in the 1990s.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration, air-conditioning, hair sprays, insulating foams and fire protection, along with more than 90 other ozone depleting chemicals, have been wiped out from planet Earth within a space of one generation. Mildly ozone depleting chemicals -- HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) -- which constitute less than one percent of total ODS remain to be phased out.

A MIT study says there already are early signs that the ozone layer has started recovering and is likely to come to its pre-depletion level by 2050. The world has created an example of 'handing over the natural heritage to the next generation, in same state as was received from our earlier generation'.

In Kigali, countries have decided to use the Montreal Protocol along with its mechanisms as a vehicle to phase-down HFCs and went beyond the mandate of the original Protocol and accepted the legally binding agreement to mitigate the emissions of GHGs. They expect the Protocol to deliver much needed reduction of 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century, bringing the maximum total warming of 1.5 degrees within reach. It is virtually impossible to deliver that under the Paris Agreement.

The countries also want to derive the benefit from this transformation away from HFCs to get more energy-efficient and even super-efficient air-conditioners to save energy, save costs, reduce pollution and derive health benefits.

To that end, Kigali has demonstrated that Silicon Valley, where the concept originated, doesn't have a monopoly on disruptive innovation.